Help! I Want to Be a Guide Dog! Quiz

Answer: Cat

Cats have been credited with alerting humans to fires and other dangers by jumping on them and meowing or wailing loudly. For example, Winnie, an American domestic shorthair, won the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' "Cat of the Year" award in 2007 for alerting her sleeping human family to a carbon monoxide leak.

Reportedly, cats have also served as "seeing eye cats" to their canine buddies. "The Daily Mews" and "Puppy in Training" websites both have stories of cats that have become guides for blind dogs. There are also accounts of cats sensing illness in humans, and there is the story of Oscar the Cat, an inhabitant of a Rhode Island hospice who has an uncanny knack for sensing when a patient is about to die.

Answer: Gorilla

A five-year-old boy had fallen into the gorilla enclosure at the U.K.'s Jersey Zoo back in 1986, and Jambo, a silverback gorilla, stood guard over the unconscious boy, placing himself between the boy and the other gorillas. Another gorilla, a female western lowland gorilla named Binti Jua went even further.

When a three-year-old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure at Illinois' Brookfield Zoo in 1996, Binti Jua carried the injured child to the zoo keeper's door.

Answer: Llama

Llamas have been shown to make wonderful shepherds. They bond with their flocks and are effective at keeping away predators. There have even been reports of them killing coyotes. It is important to purchase a llama that has been raised for guarding and has been trained to interact with humans, or the llama may view his/her owner as a threat and prevent him/her from approaching the flock.

Answer: Monkey

Monkeys are able to perform some tasks that dogs can't, making them a somewhat better fit as a mobility-assist animal. They've been trained to turn on faucets, wash their human companions, operate microwaves and retrieve items from refrigerators and high places. One drawback, however, is that someone has to change their diapers (unless they can somehow be trained to do it themselves).

Answer: Whales

Mila, a beluga whale, was credited with saving a diver who had temporarily become paralyzed at the bottom of an aquarium tank in China. The whale grabbed the diver's leg and pushed her to the top of the tank.

On the other side of the equation, a humpback whale that had been freed from crab nets near the Golden Gate Bridge swam over to each of the rescuers and nudged them, as if to thank them for rescuing it.

Answer: Parrot

Willie the parrot was recognized as a hero after he saved the life of a choking child by squawking "Mama, Baby" to attract the attention of his owner. His owner, who had momentarily stepped away, was able to perform the Heimlich maneuver and save the child.

Answer: Miniature horse

Miniature horses are touted as a substitute for service dogs mainly because they have longer lives (an average of 40 years) which means they are more cost-effective (lower turnover means less training expense), and their human charges don't have to deal with the sorrow that comes from losing a dog (which has an average life span of 10 years or so).

They are also beneficial for people from cultures that view dogs as unclean or for people who have a fear of dogs.

Answer: Dolphin

Stories of dolphins protecting humans go back to ancient times. Recent occurrences include a group of lifeguards in New Zealand and a surfer in California who were protected from sharks by pods of dolphins that formed protective circles around the swimmers.

There has also been at least one report of dolphins aiding other sea creatures. A dolphin in New Zealand helped guide a pygmy whale and her calf back to the sea after they had become stranded in shallow water. Human rescuers had been unsuccessful in guiding the whales out of the area, but the whales responded to the dolphin and followed him out of the channel.

Answer: Pot-bellied pig

Pot-bellied pigs are claimed to be an alternative to service dogs, particularly for people who are allergic to dogs. However, there is a lack of structured training programs for pigs, like those that exist for dogs, monkeys and even miniature horses. Most service pigs have been trained by their owners, and although the animals are very smart, they haven't received the same acceptance as other service animals.

Answer: Chimpanzees

Some of these stories may fall into the realm of urban legends, but this one appears to be well-documented. In 1996, hunters found a toddler living with a group of chimpanzees in the jungles of Nigeria. The child had physical and mental disabilities, and authorities believed he was abandoned by the Fulani, nomads who live in the region; they apparently frequently abandon such children.

The child was approximately two years old when he was discovered, and based on the chimp behaviors he had adopted, the authorities believed he had lived among them since he was about six months old.